“Short Term 12”

Rating: R

When: Opens Friday

Where: ArcLight La Jolla and Landmark Hillcrest

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

★★★★

Most independent dramas don’t get a lot of press, but it’s quite possible that San Diegans have heard about “Short Term 12,” the new film from Destin Daniel Cretton. If so, it might be because the writer/director is a former San Diegan who holds degrees from Point Loma Nazarene and San Diego State, and who actually shot his first feature, “I Am Not a Hipster,” right here in town. But here’s the thing: The reason you should know about “Short Term 12” is that it’s a remarkable film.

While Cretton was in his early 20s, he worked in a facility for troubled teens. So he knows the setting for his new film quite well. The movie stars Brie Larson as Grace, a 20-something who works at a similar place that bears the film’s title. Hers is a tough job. Kids are frequently trying to break out, having devastating emotional freakouts, or just trying to cope with their deep, terrible pain.

Q&A sessions

Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton, producer Ron Najor and composer Joel P. West will be available to answer questions after the following showings of “Short Term 12”: Friday at 7:45 p.m. at ArcLight La Jolla; Saturday at 5:15 p.m. at ArcLight and 7:10 p.m. at Hillcrest; Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hillcrest and 5:15 p.m. at ArcLight.

There’s Sammy (Alex Calloway), who is a sad, broken boy. And there’s Luis (Kevin Hernandez), who is constantly instigating among the other kids. The guy who seems to have it the toughest, though, is Marcus (Keith Stanfield), who is about to age out of the system and is terrified and furious over his circumstances. And hey, he has a right to be. These are young people who have been cast aside by their families and most of society, and the people they take their frustrations out on are Grace and her crew, who aren’t much older than the kids themselves.

Grace knows the pain these kids feel, because she was once part of the system. Her past is deeply devastating, and she has put enormous emotional boundaries between herself and anyone who tries to get close. This includes Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), who also works at the facility and with whom she’s in a serious relationship. Her work allows her to deal with everyone else’s pain but her own, but just as things in her own life are taking some serious turns, Short Term 12 gets a new resident. Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) is smart, clever and very angry, and in her, Grace sees so much of herself that the defenses she’s put up to keep the rest of the world out start to come crashing down.

One of the hardest things to see in “Short Term 12” — and in life in general — is people who are simply unable to accept the help that’s being offered to them. It’s so challenging to watch Grace push everyone, including Mason, away, but it’s entirely understandable. Larson takes her character to some very dark places and makes some terrible decisions, but in doing so she does the best work of her career.